Tsvangirai trip to Malawi postponed

A visit to Malawi by Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for talks with President Bakili Muluzi has been postponed. "Our understanding of the trip ... is that it has been put on hold until further notice," Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), told IRIN on Wednesday. The invitation to Tsvangirai was made by Muluzi last month as a follow-up to a diplomatic initiative, led by himself and the presidents of South Africa and Nigeria, to break the political impasse in Zimbabwe since disputed presidential elections in 2002. Tsvangirai said he was "disappointed" by the lack of progress after the visit to Harare by presidents Thabo Mbeki, Olusegun Obasanjo and Muluzi, and hoped that his visit to Malawi could be rescheduled. According to the pro-opposition newspaper the Daily News, Tsvangirai was supposed to have travelled to Malawi on Tuesday for talks with Muluzi, but the invitation was cancelled by the Malawian High Commission in Harare. Tsvangirai, on trial for treason, surrendered his passport as part of his bail conditions and would need the agreement of the Attorney General's Office for the return of his travel document. The director in Malawi's Ministry of Information, Robert Ngaiyaye, told IRIN that as late as last week Muluzi had said Tsvangirai was due in the country for talks. "Everybody in SADC [Southern African Development Community] knows very well that because of the court case, Tsvangirai's passport was removed from him. The president [Muluzi] must have made contingency plans if this [the visit] were to happen," Ngaiyaye said.